BONDS OF JUSTICE

Morpheus put a clawed paw on Sophia’s thigh, insistent. Taking the hint, she ran her fingers through his fur. It was far softer than she’d imagined, the living warmth of him making the experience nothing akin to touching a faux-fur coat, as she’d once done in a department store.

When Morpheus spread out over her thigh, eyes closed in feline bliss, she knew she’d passed muster. However, her attention was no longer on the temperamental cat, but on his master. Max stood by the window, cell phone to his ear. He moved, she thought, with the same grace as the feline under her hand—with a muscled ease that told her he was in full and total control of his body, his strength.

What would it be like to stroke him?

He turned, met her eyes. She wondered what he saw, because his expression changed to a look she knew instinctively she’d only ever see in a sexual context. Closing the phone, he walked over and brushed back her hair, stroking his finger along the very tip of her ear. “Sascha’s at the city office.”

It was the lightest of touches, but she shivered. “That is not an erotic zone.”

“Oh?” Leaning down, he closed his teeth gently over the same spot.

And Sophia saw stars.


They were met at DarkRiver’s city HQ by the leopard alpha himself. Lucas Hunter was obviously not pleased to find his mate in the crosshairs of an investigation, but he said nothing except, “Max, Ms. Russo,” before showing them up to the meeting room.

Entering, Sophia tried not to stare at the woman seated on the other side of the round table. But that proved impossible. The image on the screen hadn’t done Sascha Duncan justice. Not only did she bear the startling night-sky eyes of a cardinal—white stars on a sweep of black velvet—she was beyond beautiful, her face holding a glow that didn’t seem real.

“This is Sophia,” Max said to Sascha, his fingers pressing lightly on Sophia’s lower back.

Her clothing did nothing to mute the impact of his touch, the tiny hairs on her arms rising up in vivid response. “Ms. Duncan,” she somehow managed to say.

“Please call me Sascha.” Glancing up, the cardinal Psy touched her fingers to Lucas’s as her mate walked around to stand by her side, his hand on her shoulder. Something unseen passed between them, because the leopard alpha angled his head in a move that was very feline, before saying, “Take a seat,” and folding his own body into a chair beside his mate.

“Sophie.” Max pulled out a chair, taking his own after she’d seated herself. “I’ll be upfront with you both,” he said to the DarkRiver couple, one arm braced on the table. “Sascha, you were in the Duncan building this morning in the apartment across from an Edward Chan.”

Lucas leaned back in his chair in a seemingly casual pose . . . except that his eyes weren’t quite human—Sophia could see an areola of gold around the green, as if the leopard was simply waiting for an excuse to get out.

“What’re you getting at Max?” A question that held a warning.

“Just doing my job,” Max said easily. So easily you could’ve almost overlooked the fact that he was holding Lucas’s gaze with unflinching confidence.

Dominance, she thought, it was all about dominance with males.

“Lucas,” Sascha murmured, and Sophia saw the other woman’s shoulder muscles shift in a way that meant she had, in all probability, placed her hand on her mate’s thigh. An intimate gesture between male and female, one she knew Max would allow her . . . and not another woman, no matter who she was. Not now. A strange new thing unfurled inside of her, tight and hot and determined.

“Yes, I was there,” Sascha said to Max, even as Sophia fought the urge to push herself, to stroke Max, feel his muscles bunch under her touch. “I went to speak to Marsha Langholm.”

“The thing is”—Max’s tone was gentler than Sophia had ever heard it—“Edward Chan was murdered in the room across from Langholm’s while you were in there with her.”

Sascha’s eyes went wide, her distress open. “Oh, God. That explains it.”





CHAPTER 18


Lucas ran a soothing hand along Sascha’s spine. “Shh, kitten. Don’t let it stress you out.”

“I’m okay—it was just the shock of it.” Taking several deep breaths, she looked straight at them. “How much do you know about my abilities?”

Max glanced at Sophia, and she took that as a cue to answer. “They say you can sense emotion, heal wounds of the heart. There are rumors you’re an E, a designation that doesn’t exist.”